Manitoba RCMP have charged a cell guard at the Little Grand Rapids RCMP detachment with sexually assaulting a prisoner.
Police say a woman who was being held overnight at the detachment reported she’d been sexually assaulted by a male guard Sunday morning.
Investigators say a 54-year-old civilian who had been contracted to guard cells had been working the night shift when he offered the 39-year-old woman alcohol before touching her inappropriately several times.
The man was arrested and charged with sexual assault on Monday.
He’s scheduled to appear in court July 27.
The security firm that had employed the accused contractor says the man no longer works for the company.
Bryan Payne, chief executive officer of the Manitoba branch of the Corps of Commissionaires, would not say how long the man charged was working for the company.
He says potential employees are subject to criminal and child abuse registry checks and called the incident highly unusual and unprecedented.
In a release Thursday, RCMP said guards are only allowed to enter a cell without an RCMP officer present under “exigent circumstances.”
They say no officer was present when the accused entered the woman’s cell.
Little Grand Rapids detachment has five cells and two were occupied at the time of the incident, police say.
–With files from The Canadian Press